Though French funding agency AFD had evinced interest in the second phase development of the Vyttila Mobility Hub, there is still no clarity on who will fund the project. File more-in Finally, there seems to be some progress in the long-delayed second phase development of the Vyttila Mobility Hub with Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) set to appoint a consultant for drawing up the Detailed Project Report (DPR) this month. KMRL, the implementing agency for the second phase development, has already drawn tender, which is likely to be opened by the middle of this month. The agency chosen as consultant is then expected to submit the DPR in three months. Sources said that the three-month period would be enough for the preparation of DPR since basic work like traffic study had already been completed. Once the DPR receives the approval of the State government, tender will be floated for the selection of a detailed design consultant. Clarity, however, is yet to evolve in the case of funding. French funding agency AFD, Agence Française de Développement, which had lent to Kochi metro, had initially evinced interest in partnering in the project and even conducted a slew of studies in this regard. The agency would also have brought to the table its technical expertise in executing such a project. But much time had elapsed since then and whether the agency still retains that interest remains to be seen. KMRL could now approach AFD to verify whether the agency is still interested in the project only after the detailed design is in place. After much dilly-dallying, it was only in February this year that the governing body meeting of the Vyttila Mobility Hub Society (VMHS) finally decided to entrust KMRL with the designing and execution of the project. The meeting also threw up a broad set of proposals like devoting minimum space to commercial utilisation to recover the cost while allocating maximum space for parking, bus bays, green space, and passenger amenities. Incidentally, the much delayed governing body meeting was held nine months after the executive committee meeting last May. At the executive meeting, three design concepts drawn up by KMRL were considered but left a final decision to the governing body meeting. Though the executive committee had asked KMRL to draw up a DPR, the agency was not willing to waste energy on such an endeavour without a conclusive nod from the authorities concerned entrusting it with the assignment. KMRL had recommended first of the three concept plans for the second phase development and was open to prepare a DPR based on it once it was entrusted with the job.

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